Zeresh John

Pakistan’s descent into darkness furthered as it typically does: when TV channels aired self-congratulatory messages for reporting the tragedy first; when multiple militant outfits clamoured to take responsibility; when our leaders made empty condemnations, just like all the other attacks.....

Zainah Anwar

Zainah Anwar

In 2002, Sisters in Islam wrote a letter to the editor in The Star, asking why the rights of those who publicly preach hate, injustice, discrimination, intolerance, and extremism are protected while the rights of other citizens who speak out for justice, equality, tolerance, respect, and moderation in Islam are denied? The question remains as valid today....

Burak Bekdil

Burak Bekdil

It was not a secret that Egypt and the Turks' "Muslim brothers, Saudi Arabia" aggressively lobbied against Turkey's failed bid in September to win the seat of the non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The EU ambassador said: "There may be further Egyptian moves to retaliate against Turkish hostilities. After Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Israel, Turkey has completely lost Egypt."....

Abdülhamit Bilici

Abdülhamit Bilici

Caliph Omar, who is renowned for his attention to justice, paid a visit to sacred sites after taking over control of Jerusalem from Governor Sophronius. He visited Masjid al Aqsa and later also wanted to see the Church of Resurrection where, according to Christian belief, Jesus was crucified and prepared for burial. Sophronius, who was walking with Omar, recalled that he performed prayers everywhere he visited and asked him to do the same at the church. Omar rejected the request saying, “If I perform prayer here, Muslims will build a mosque on this very spot.”…

Verda Özer

Verda Özer

The insecurity,
instability and uncertainty in the region urge regional countries to be
flexible and form new alliances. These conditions also make Turkey’s need for
regional allies projecting security and stability more important than ever. The
longer and deeper the war, the stronger this need will become. The fact that
Ankara is keeping its door open to Israel and Egypt implies such flexibility….

Nader Bakkar

When
incitement to violence becomes a staunch media campaign, managed from abroad
and being persistent on people's minds night and day. When, this incitement is
backed up by aberrant Fatwas that confer religious legitimacy on burning,
sabotaging and violating the sanctity of money and honour and portray the
inter-fighting between sons of the same country as Jihad in the name of Allah.
When arbitrariness increases in order to arrest innocent people,
unsubstantiated accusations are leveled randomly on those who have nothing to
do with anything and the most basic human rights of those detained are
violated. When the blood of dozens is spilled recklessly, what will prevent a
teenager or even a youth in his twenties from dipping himself into the quagmire
of declaring Muslims as unbelievers (Takfir)? It isn't a prerequisite that the
victim of a Takfiri thought be brought up in an intellectually distorted
environment or a socially poor milieu…..

Jeffrey Simpson

Obviously,
some of the militant Islamic groups are targeting Western interests. And Iran’s
government has long been hostile to the United States, the “Great Satan.” But a
great deal of the strife in the Muslim world today is among religious groups,
sects and governments, mixed into a toxic brew by power politics, religious
ideology and historical enmities…..

Mohammed Fahad Al-Harthi

Mohammed Fahad Al-Harthi

Arab
intellectuals are failing to counter this sycophancy and inertia by offering a
rational and modern ideological framework that can be used as a rallying point
for people. This has resulted in the growth of extremism, ignorance and
sectarian wars. The Arab world also suffers from another illness — the love of
the conspiracy theory. Instead of self-reflection and acknowledgement of
mistakes, many opt to take the easier road and blame others for their
problems.....

Jason Pack and Rhiannon Smith

Rhiannon Smith

While the
world's attention has been fixed on the appalling developments in Syria and
Iraq, Libya has quietly mirrored the Levant's transformation into a proxy
battlefield. A tug-of-war has emerged between the country's two rival
governments for control of key institutions, military supremacy, and ultimately
legitimacy…..

Vijay Prashad

Vijay Prashad

Such a
manoeuvre would remove the illusion that persists in Washington, Paris and
London for a moderate armed force to take on both Mr. Assad and IS. That
illusion keeps the door open for Saudi and Qatari funds to jihadi groups that
are replicas of IS, although they have shut off the cameras to document their
own barbarity…..

Abdulrahman al-Rashed

Abdulrahman al-Rashed

In the case of
announcing the death of the current Yemeni government, or if it dies within the
next few months but no announcement is made, we would witness the inevitable
end of a unified Yemen as well as the South’s declaration of a separate state.
Yemen would thus begin a new chapter in its history. Its first chapter will
most probably be full of further domestic disputes and foreign interferences
and the victims will be the Yemenis who have not been asked to express their
opinions yet.…..

Bahman Aghai Diba

The arrogance
of believing in the superiority of one particular ideology (their own) over all
others- the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran believes in the supremacy of
the version of Islam practiced by the Iranian Mullahs as the best arrangement
for the whole world. The regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran believes that
the Western way of life is corrupt. The regime of Iran is seriously thinking
that the Western democracies are going to fall, as the USSR fell, and one of
these days the Islamic regime will get a chance to introduce its role in the
global level. It does not believe in validity of any arrangement with the
"Western" infidels and all of the agreements with the West are
temporary and subject to abrogation as soon as the Islamic power gets the
possibility to do so. A look at the regime of Iran reveals that all of these
elements are clearly present in those government and politics of the present
regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran and it very much deserves to be included
under the title of Islamofacist regimes…..

Harris Khalique

Harris Khalique

Faiz Ahmed
Faiz, the arch poet whose poetry after his death is even read, sung and enjoyed
by the next generations of those who hated him, was awarded the Lenin Prize. He
was made to spend four years in prison and eight years in exile. He was called
a communist who professed atheistic ideas. His books were removed from some
government libraries…..

Mosharraf Zaidi

Mosharraf Zaidi

Pakistan’s
fitful cycle of military and civilian rule has produced a national discourse in
which there are disagreements about many things, but there has been one
constant throughout. Pakistan’s government and society deny a decent education
to millions of children.....

Harun Yahya

Harun Yahya

The coalition
powers should understand that the PKK is more dangerous and should know that
they cannot stop the PKK from being defeated in Syria by sending them more arms
or using airstrikes. If they want a solution for the IS, this should be done
through the safe-zone project that Turkey is committed to…..

Mustafa Akyol

Mustafa Akyol

For most
Western observers, the stance of the Turkish government in all this mess is
incomprehensible. Why, they wonder, is Turkey doing nothing to help the heroic
defenders of Kobane against the brutal jihadist hordes? The answer often comes
by concluding that the Turkish government must have some sympathy for ISIL, due
to its Islamist sentiments and anti-Kurdish biases. The reality, however, is a
bit more complicated…..

Saeed Naqvi

Saeed Naqvi

Of course the
US is powerful enough to prevent an outcome that will shake its two principal
allies in the region – Saudi Arabia and Israel. But the People versus
Potentates balance will have to reset…..

Khaled Abu Toameh

The uproar that
erupted throughout the Arab world over the use of a map with Israel's name on
it is yet another reminder that many Arabs still have not come to terms with
Israel's existence -- and apparently are not interested in coming to terms with
it. The protestors were not demanding a two-state solution and an Israeli
withdrawal from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. They were protesting against
Israel's existence; that is what really bothers them.....

Burak Bekdil

Burak Bekdil

In short, to
finish off the jihadists who have captured large swathes of land in Iraq and
Syria, Washington will now work with the man who until recently funded and
reinforced these same jihadists (and their various offspring) and is proud of
his love affairs with Hamas and the Brotherhood. More ironically, a U.S.-led
coalition of nations including Arab states recently killed one of Erdogan's
heroes when the coalition forces struck an ISIS camp in Syria......

Ramzy Baroud

Ramzy Baroud

I learned that
most consequential decisions in the United States Congress regarding Palestine
and Israel are taken after protracted investigations that rarely involve
Palestinians. Those who often testify before Congressional committee hearings
are mostly Israelis, US foreign policy experts and pro-Israeli lobbyists, more
or less, all advocating the interests of Israel; that the permissible space in
mainstream media is so incredibly limited, especially for genuine Palestinian
voices; that even solidarity conferences and meetings pertaining to Palestine
rarely represent….

By Aya Batrawy

The other force
is a strict interpretation of Islam. One tenet of this is that Muslim tombs or
sites connected to revered figures — even the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), his
family and companions — should be destroyed to avoid veneration of anything
other than Allah. It's the same iconoclastic zeal that has prompted militants
from Daesh [Arabic for the so-called "Islamic State"/ISIS/ISIL] to
blow up Muslim shrines in Iraq and Syria. In Makkah, hardly any site associated
with Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) remains. Many were destroyed in previous
expansions of the Grand Mosque in the 1980s and 1990s, and the new development
is finishing off much of what remains. In 2008, for example, the house of Abu
Bakr, Prophet Mohammad's (PBUH) successor as leader of the Muslim community,
was razed to make way for a Hilton hotel......

Uri Anvery

Uri Anvery

IS is Islamist.
IS strives for a worldwide caliphate. Hamas is Islamist. So Hamas wants a
worldwide caliphate. They all want to dominate the world. Like the “Elders of
Zion.” Netanyahu counts on the fact that most people do not know what he is
talking about. By the same logic, France belongs to IS. Fact: The French
revolution chopped off heads. IS chops off heads. Some time ago, the British
chopped off the head of their king. All IS……

Harun Yahya

Harun Yahya

The
establishment of a secure zone, Turkey’s essential demand, may not meet with
the approval of all the five permanent members of the United Nations Security
Council, despite the urgent need for it. The failure of the Security Council
members in reaching a consensus on this important issue obviously due to
conflicting interests has only aggravated the situation in the region. Turkish
president is justified in his criticism of these members. “The world is bigger
than those five,” aptly said the president…..

Anurag Tripathi

It is,
consequently, not surprising that Islamabad is targeting Southern Balochistan.
On the other hand, despite clear signs of a deteriorating situation in North
Balochistan, Islamabad has demonstrated very little urgency in addressing the
problem. North Balochistan is dominated by Islamist terrorist groups and Sunni
sectarian formations such as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) which have flourished under the aegis of the military mullah
combine, though the latter has now gone renegade and directs much of its
terrorist activity against the Army and political establishment in
Islamabad.....

Mohamed Zaied

Mohamed Zaied

It is perhaps
true that Bedouins may have changed their shelters, clothes, and might even
have diversified their way of life, but make no mistake, the Arabian camels
still sail all the way from the Atlantic to the Gulf; the Arabian horse still
skims above the rocky lands of the Arab homeland under the Arabian hawk which
has always scanned the Arabian skies. And the Bedouin has not at all
disappeared; they may have just taken another name: the Arabs……